Month: July 2018

100 years since the birth of Nelson Mandela KEN LIVINGSTONE writes on the fight to commemorate the revolutionary leader a short distance away from the British institutions that once ruled the African colonies.

THIS week would have been Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday, and here in London Nelson Mandela’s statue in Parliament Square stands as just one small testimony of the triumph of freedom and humanity over oppression that he led.

The unveiling of the statue, sculpted by the late Ian Walters, was one of my proudest moments as Mayor of London, and came after seven years of campaigning from myself, Lord Richard Attenborough, Wendy Woods (widow of anti-apartheid campaigner Donald Woods) and thousands of ordinary Londoners who supported the idea. Read the full article

We need to step up international solidarity campaigning for Lula’s freedom, and democracy and social progress in Brazil, writes KEN LIVINGSTONE.

As many Morning Star readers will know, Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been detained in jail since April 7.

This imprisonment has been widely condemned as politically motivated by the international labour and trade union movement, and this week Britain’s largest trade union Unite added its voice to those demanding Lula be freed. Read the full article